UW can't cope with Gators' hot shooting

Gainesville, Fla. – In the run-up to Wisconsin’s nonconference game at Florida, the No. 1 question was whether UW could handle the Gators’ defensive pressure.

Turns out the better question was how UW was going to keep the Gators from scoring…and scoring…and scoring at will.

The Gators hit three-quarters of their shots in the opening half to build a double-digit lead and cruised to a 74-56 victory over UW Wednesday night at the O’Connell Center in front of an announced crowd of 9,614.

Led by forward Erik Murphy (7-for-7 shooting, 16 points), the Gators built a 43-31 halftime lead. Murphy, who was ill earlier this week, hit 10 of 10 shots and finished with 24 points. He added eight rebounds to help the Gators win the rebounding battle, 40-21.

Florida (2-0) set the tone early by hitting 4 of 6 shots for a 9-0 lead 4 minutes 46 seconds into the game.

UW settled almost exclusively for three-pointers early against the Gators’ 2-3 zone. The Badgers missed their first eight shots and finally broke through on Berggren’s put-back with 14:52 left in the half.

UW battled back from a 21-11 deficit as Florida turned the ball over on five consecutive possessions.

But after UW pulled within 21-19 on a jumper by Ryan Evans, the Gators hit their next six shots to build the lead back to 35-25.